Banking on Boomers

As she defines it, retirement-income security is a strong sense of confidence and safeness folks have as they embark upon retirement. Indeed, that feeling is far from typical. Because then, "it's no longer about accumulating wealth. It's 'How do I figure out how to live off that wealth?'" she says. Complicating matters: "Because boomers don't [necessarily] have the comfort of a pension plan and Social Security, they need to replace those guaranteed sources of income."

Aiming to produce that confident mind-set, Dzielak's group is creating a variety of innovative products and services to be provided via the advisor channel.

"We don't know what's going to work," she says, "but we've got some pretty interesting concepts that we're prototyping." Dzielak's motto: "Think big, start small, scale fast!"

One direction is exploring ideas that will help boomers leverage a fully comprehensive range of assets, including their homes. And due to be pilot-tested at the start of this year was a client-engaging online tool allowing advisors to embed retirement advice into their practices.

Above all, "advice absolutely needs to drive the product sale. It's not going to be enough to hawk product," Dzielak stresses. "Baby boomers have more information at their fingertips than any generation before them. They want an advice-led approach and to understand how the financial plan was put together."

A Hartford native, Dzielak found financial services intriguing from the time she was 13, when she began working summers for her dad, who ran customer service at Cigna Individual Insurance.

Not only did she intern at the firm, she joined it in 1990 right after graduation from the University of Connecticut, where she earned a bachelor's degree in finance and real estate.

From the complaint department, she moved into product development, helping Cigna build its first annuity product. Eight years later, she left to join Aetna as a corporate strategist. When the firm was acquired by ING Group, she segued into distribution, traveling the country with wholesalers to observe how FAs delivered product to clients.

Five years ago, the mom of twin girls — she's wed to home dad Moose Dzielak ("Only his Nana calls him Edward!") — hopped aboard to head Lincoln Life & Annuity Co. of New York's variable annuity line. It was the need to deeply understand the VA consumer that sparked what became Dzielak's immersion in the retirement income area. Under her leadership, the firm's VA business climbed from No. 12 to No. 5. At the same time, the strategist was instrumental in Lincoln's expansion in the RIS space.

"There is a cry for help and a huge population with a lot of money. But it's not just about the financial side. It's a time when boomers feel a little more alone than they have in the past. It's therefore important for advisors to understand behavioral economics too. So, not everyone can just put out a [retirement expert] shingle."

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Freelance writer Jane Wollman Rusoff is a Los Angeles-based contributing editor of Research and is the founder of Family Star Productions.